New Year's Healing
by your-lie-in-september
Summary: Savage lost control of the League, but the damage has been done. The League and Team need time to repair the aftermath, including the relationships that were unknowingly damaged and the things that were done. Post-Auld Acquaintance


**Location: The Watchtower, Cargo Bay 13**

 **January 1, 2011, 1:38 EDT**

Barry groaned as he opened his eyes. He was greeted with a blinding headache, the soreness of his legs and arms, and the sounds of Oliver and Orin groaning and complaining of headaches. It seemed like they were in a cargo bay, but why?

"Why do I feel like I got run over a truck?" Oliver moaned as he slowly pulled himself up from the ground.

"I don't know," Barry replied as he got up, ignoring the tenderness of his legs. His CSI skills were kicking in. They were all unconscious for unknown amount of time on the floor of a cargo bay. Crates, boxes, and various other items were scattered around the room like a tornado tore through the room, suggesting that the cargo bay door had vented into the open atmosphere. There was an arrow mark embedded into a wall and another wall was marred with the remnants of what was most likely an exploding arrow.

"How did we get here?" Orin murmured seeming a bit dazed as he surveyed the room.

A sinking feeling hit him as Orin's word sunk in. How had they gotten here? Why were they here? The last thing he could remember was the League induction party in the mission room. That could be possible, though…

"No way," Oliver muttered. The emerald archer had made his way to the cargo bay door's control panel, hoping to get some information. He tapped away at the various button and Barry watched him, his eyes soaking in the information. "This says that the cargo bay door was opened on December 31 at around twenty-three hundred hours. I don't remember any of this happening. I'm pretty sure I would remember this happening." He gestured wildly, his eyes wide.

If Barry wasn't so concerned about the situation, he would have laughed at how ridiculous Oliver looked.

"There has to be an explanation for this," he said trying to sound confident. Oliver seemed to calm down at his words, but Orin didn't look like he was buying it.

The Atlantean king expression was unreadable. He looked like he was deep in thought. So, he thought it best not to interrupt him.

"I'll try to comm the others," he said to Oliver who was still trying to take in the whole scene. He tried his communicator but was met with static. He frowned. Perfect. "And it's broken, great."

"Perhaps we should try the mission room," Orin suggested, coming out of his reverie. "We may receive some answers there."

He nodded. Thank goodness for Orin. He was probably thinking about that the whole time.

"That's a good idea," Oliver murmured to no one particular.

They made their way through the wrecked cargo bay and tried to gather some more clues. But, they couldn't gather anything else from the scene. The gaps in their memories coupled with their headaches didn't help their detective work either.

Oliver opened his mouth; his eye were still trained at a piece of debris, but was interrupted by a loud crash.

"You have to quiet, Fleet Feet," a girl's voice, Artemis, hissed. Barry perked up at her voice. What was a member of the Team doing on the Watchtower? "Do you _want_ them to hear you?"

"Sorry, sorry," a boy, Wally, replied. "Ow! You didn't have to slap me!"

"I'll make it up to you later," Artemis replied, teasing tone.

Barry was filled with relief at hearing their voices, and resisted the urge to grab his nephew when he entered the cargo bay. The pair was decked in their stealth uniforms. Artemis's quiver was noticeably empty and her arms were tense. Wally appeared tired but otherwise okay. He was carrying what appeared to be a bucket of water, and Artemis was wielding a camera.

"Wally? Artemis? What are you two doing here?" Oliver asked, beating Barry to the question.

"Well, we're here, here," Wally said pointing at the floor of the cargo bay, "to pour water on Ollie and bring you guys to the mission. What we're doing here on the Watchtower…that's another story."

The duo exchanged dark glances, making Barry uneasy. There was something about their looks that made the seemingly innocent and wreaked cargo bay room something much worse.

"What happened?" he asked glancing from Wally to Artemis who were standing a little _too_ close together.

"It'll be explained to all of you at the mission room," Artemis replied her tone not revealing any emotion. The archer, however, gave another look at Wally who had ditched the bucket of water.

And as if on cue, Wally flashed a cheesy smile. "C'mon! I don't want to be the last one there! I bet that everyone's already there!"

With that his nephew sped off leaving the rest of them behind. He caught a glance of Artemis who shook her head and was muttering something under her breath. She was still smiling, however. So, Barry figured she was okay with Wally's antics.

"Might as well hurry up," she said a bit louder. "M'gann just told me that the majority of the League is already at the mission room."

The blonde haired archer began to jog putting a distance between her and the rest of them. If he wanted he could have caught with Wally and made him slow down, but for some reason he felt drained, like he had been running on empty. He hadn't thought about it before, but he probably hadn't eaten in hours. And during the span of the last day he had probably ran miles and miles…but why couldn't he remember?

Artemis paused, turning to face them. "Well come on," she said sounding a bit impatient. "Wally's already there complaining how slow we are."

Barry blanked for a moment. How did Artemis know that Wally was complaining about…right, the psychic link.

It's always the psychic link.

xxxOOOxxx

 **Location: The Watchtower, Mission Room**

 **January 1, 1:42 EDT**

Black Canary stood back as various League members filed into the mission room. She had been impressed at how quickly the Team had taken action after New Year's. They divided and conquered. She and Roy were shaken gently awake by M'gann and were told by Kaldur that he had split up the Team. Conner and M'gann took Red Tornado into a nearby conference room in order to do some quick repairs on him. Robin stayed by Kaldur's side as the two pieced together a time line and surveillance footage for their report. The rest of the Team and Roy had split up in order to find League members scattered throughout the Watchtower.

"Black Canary," Kaldur said turning to face her. "With the mission report-"

"Kaldur," she stopped him short. "After today, I think and you the rest of the Team deserve a break. _I'll_ deliver the mission report at the next League meeting, which will probably be tomorrow given this whole fiasco."

Robin looked up from the holographic screen in front of him.

"Umm...not to be rude but, the Team already decided to give the League a general overview of all of this tonight," he said. "We just want it over and done with as soon as possible. But it would be pretty cool if you gave a mission report at the League meeting, too."

She had nearly forgotten that the Team had a psychic link going on. They had probably been working on what to say even before she had brought it up.

"Most of the League is here," she commented. She watched as Captain Atom and Hawkman engaged in a deep conversation their expressions serious and their eyes flitting from her to Robin and Kaldur. "We're just waiting for the three who were down in the cargo bay."

"Same for the rest of the Team. Miss M said that Red Tornado isn't fully functional and that she and Superboy can't do anything more for him right now. They're heading here right now. Wally and Artemis are coming too."

True to Robin's words, the rest of the Team showed up along with Flash, Aquaman, and Green Arrow, the three in the cargo bay.

With everyone in the mission room, a general murmuring from the League members rose. Apparently, the Team had been careful to avoid answering any questions from the League. The Holy Trinity, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, had moved to the front of the crowd. The Team and Roy had lined up facing them and the rest of the Team.

She was aware of alienating stares she was receiving from her fellow League members. It was strange standing on the Team's side, seeing the League from their perspective.

"Aqualad, what happened here?" Batman asked, surveying the Team. The Team hadn't met any of the other League members stares, and they weren't starting with Batman

Kaldur and Robin exchanged a brief glance.

"For the past day or so, none of you have been yourselves," Kaldur began slowly.

"Explain," Batman said, a frown growing on his face.

Kaldur eyes drifted to Robin who began typing away on the holographic keyboard. M'gann probably still had the psychic link up, and the Team was probably thinking of what to say.

Robin pulled up the specs on the Starro-Tech chip Savage created.

"For the last day or so, the entire League has been under the complete control of Vandal Savage," Robin stated. "We think that each of you were infected with Savage's Starro-Tech during the League induction party. That was December 30."

"That's why there are gaps in your memory," M'gann added before the League members began murmuring among themselves again.

Black Canary cleared her throat and gave a steely look, forcing League members into silence.

"With the help of Queen Mera, Vulko, and Doctors Roquette and Spence, we managed to reverse engineer a cure," Wally said, his eyes not quite meeting his uncle's eyes.

"The cure was successfully administered and all of you are free from Savage's control," Zatanna finished squirming ever so slightly under Superman's gaze.

"What did we do?" Superman asked, his eyes raking over the Team. "The past day, what did we do?"

The Team exchanged glances, and she could feel the League growing uneasy. Kaldur glanced over at her.

"Clark," she began but was cut off by his determined stare.

"What did we do?" he asked again.

It was Artemis who spoke up. She was a master at hiding her feelings, but when she was honest sometimes she could be brutally so.

"You attacked us," she said simply. "You tried to infect us with the Starro-Tech, and when we tried to administer the cure..we weren't really welcomed."

The Team laughed not because it was funny but because they wanted to lighten the mood. The League's shocked reactions had darkened the mood of the room, and the Team was trying to lighten it.

"Understatement," Wally said sarcastically, as the Team broke into uneasy laughter with even Kaldur and Roy cracking a smile.

"We attacked you?" Flash asked his eyes wide and disbelieving.

"Yes," M'gann said. "But it's not your fault. It's Savage's."

M'gann's words hung in the air. The room was tense and silent. She could feel the shock and guilt radiating off the rest of the League.

"Show us," Batman commanded his tone hard.

"What?" Zatanna asked surprised, her blue eyes wide.

"Show us."

Black Canary figured now was a good time to step in and end this for now. She was starting to see the fatigue of the Team. She could see their reactions slowing, their eyes growing less and less alert. They needed and deserved rest.

"Batman, this can be delivered at the next League meeting, which I suppose will be later today at a more reasonable hour," she said moving from her spot next to Kaldur to stand in front of Batman. "I will personally be delivering the Team's mission report later."

The response seemed to satisfy the Bat, and the Team took that as their cue to split. They mingled with League members and their mentors, trying to downplay what happened. Zatanna and Artemis were trying to escape to a Zeta-tube. Wally was awkwardly trying to avoid his uncle. M'gann and Conner slipped away to the garden room. Superman was no where to be seen.

"Black Canary, Robin, Aqualad, a word," Batman said.

Great, just great.

xxxOOOxxx

 **AN: Okay...I know I'm still writing For the Greater Good (I was working on chapter two and it got deleted so I've got to rewrite it.) But, I kept re-watching Auld Acquaintances and I really wanted to write this. I don't think this story will be super long, probably less than ten chapters. So this'll be short and sweet.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you want to drop a review in the box below that would be awesome!**

 **Thanks a bunch!**


End file.
